When Anele Mnukwa was called up on stage during the AfricanX Trailrun to receive the Sanet Wentzel Spirit Award, he wound his way through the packed hall, along with teammate Francois Groenewald, to a standing ovation. His fellow runners had just heard his inspirational story of overcoming great adversity and running through the pain barrier to be there with them, participating in the three-day stage race that he had long dreamt of running. They stood to applaud his spirit and strength, and pay tribute to a running hero. Each year at AfricanX, the participating runners are invited to nominate one of their fellow runners( or a team) for the Sanet Wentzel Award, which was introduced in 2010 in memory
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of Sanet Wentzel of Oudtshoorn. She had run the first AfricanX in 2009, and towards the end of that year, just one day after phoning her running partner to convince her they should enter the 2010 race, Sanet was tragically killed by a drunk driver while out training. The award honours runners who persevere in spite of adversity. |
Talent Spotted
Anele works as a petrol pump attendant in the small Western Cape town of Grabouw, just a few kilometres up the N2 highway from the AfricanX venue at Houw Hoek Inn. He started running in 2010 when his work manager noticed his running talent and asked Francois to try coach him, because he was doing well in spite of running long distances in overalls and boots. With proper running gear, Anele soon started making the podium at local Boland races, even winning a few.
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“ Some of his astonishing podiums came from the Bainskloof Ultra 63km, which he won by miles, and at the Matroosberg Skymarathon 36km, he managed two consecutive second places, just minutes behind AJ Calitz – all with no trail running experience or support gear,” says Francois.“ He managed on a few |
occasions to be selected by Boland for national races in the 10, 21 and 42km distances, and he boasts personal best times of 32 minutes for 10km, 1:11 for the half marathon and 2:32 in the marathon. He also ran 3:38 in the Two Oceans, and in his first attempt at Comrades, he managed to stay in the top 15 for 70km, but had to retire eventually. His lack of training due to long shifts caught up with him, unfortunately.”
AfricanX Surprise
Originally, the two running friends had no plans to run the AfricanX, but just two weeks before the race, Francois received a wonderful surprise.“ I’ d had my heart set on running AfricanX with Anele since 2011. Unfortunately, we had not been able to cover the entry fee, as Anele does not earn that much as a petrol attendant. However, I mentioned our situation to one of the event organisers the weekend of the Fedhealth XTERRA Grabouw, and to my surprise I received a phone call the very next day, inviting us to run in the colours of one of their sponsors, Big Box Containers. I was speechless … but with just two weeks left to train, Anele and I started that same day!”
This is where the drama started. On their first training run on the XTERRA run route around Eikenhof Dam, Anele fell and seriously injured his leg, gashing his whole shin open. The injury became infected, but he told Francois he was OK to continue, so they scheduled a second training run on that Friday. However, Anele didn’ t show up, and later that day Francois found out that
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Images: Tobias Ginsberg & Jetline Action Photo |